Source: Arizona State Militia

The drive to use Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grants to convert local law enforcement into heavily armed battalions of a nationwide standing army under the command of federal officers marches on.

Contributing source: The New American

What does the future hold for this country? As we see the people rebelling against tyrannical governments all across the globe and governments being replaced with that of the people, the United States is preparing for the same.

Our nation cannot sustain our current financial burdens and when the economy collapses, what do you think all this military equipment will be used for? In fact, to control the people and protect the power interests of those in charge with the blood of americans who will be slaughtered in the streets for rising up against tyranny. The government is preparing itself and bracing for the inevitability of collapse. It is afraid of the people and through its current and future efforts to disarm the people and thereby arming themselves instead, using weapons of war and under the disguise of safety, the people will lose their inalienable rights.

DHS is donating tens of millions of dollars to local law enforcement agencies across the nation to further militarize the police force across the country. The Federal government is also giving away all of their modern military equipment left over from the war to local police departments as well. The goal is to quell any insurrection – at any cost. And this is not for the protection of our way of life. The government is expecting mass riots across the country. Why else would they be providing weapons of war to police forces across the country? Proponents say that it is just for intimidation during raids. Oh really? With all that fire power?

Every month there are so many reports now of police that are shooting people when they pose no threat to themselves or others. If the police are out of control, how can the people trust them with weapons of war? What will happen when tens of thousands of people rise up and protest against something?

The federal government and the Obama administration are under fire for a variety of unconstitutional programs aimed at both militarizing and controlling local police and law enforcement, including supplying a vast array of sophisticated U.S. Defense Department “weapons of war” to city and county governments. Billions of dollars in military equipment has already been handed to municipal police departments and county sheriffs’ offices nationwide under the rapidly expanding federal schemes, but concerns from across the political spectrum are growing quickly as well.

In 2013 alone, over 150 so-called “mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles,” or MRAPs, used by U.S. forces in Iraq, were distributed by the administration to local police departments within the “Homeland.” The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, has been at the center of mounting controversy for over a year as it stockpiled the beastly military vehicles and massive quantities of ammunition for domestic use. At the same time, federal efforts to unconstitutionally commandeer state and local law enforcement are accelerating.

This is not about safety. This is purely about control for when the government declares marshal law and suspends the peoples inalienable rights. All of them.

A quick survey of some of the police departments being outfitted by the federal government has exposed the extent of the coast to coast effort to obliterate local accountability of law enforcement and to make those officers dependent on the largesse of their federal benefactors.

For example, the Santa Monica, California, Police Department received nearly $800,000 from DHS days ago. A March 28 Santa Monica Mirror story on the “donation” reveals the earmarks for the funds.

Officially approved as part of the City Council’s consent calendar agenda at its Tuesday meeting, the grant money would, according to City staff, be used “to purchase equipment and training that supports regional homeland security goals.”…

“Funds were requested to purchase equipment and training that supports regional homeland security goals, specifically an automated license plate reading system for the Police Department, terrorism liaison officer training, hazardous material (HazMat) training and equipment, urban search and rescue (USAR) training and equipment and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) training and equipment for the Fire Department,” City staff stated.

Notice the mention made of surveillance equipment (license plate tracking system), terrorism, and urban riot preparedness. Hardly the bailiwick of a local police department.

Next, the headline of a story out of Wisconsin is enough to invoke the ire of constitutionalists in the Badger State: “State cops can track residents’ cellphones.”

The story under that headline, from the Fond du Lac Reporter, demonstrates the immense capacity of cops to violate the Fourth Amendment:

• Police in Wisconsin have at least two devices that secretly track cellphone locations in real time to target suspects or missing persons — technology that simultaneously mines data from hundreds or thousands of unsuspecting people nearby.

Such sophisticated surveillance equipment doesn’t come cheap. The Reporter writes:

The suitcase-sized Stingray masquerades as a cell tower to trick cellphones into connecting to it. It can show police phones within a mile or more, depending on terrain. Records show the DOJ Stingray cost more than $150,000, and the DOJ and Milwaukee police both purchased upgrade packages that topped $100,000.

In fairness, it’s not just Wisconsin law enforcement using this technology to track citizens. As noted by the Reporter:

An investigation by USA TODAY and Gannett media around the country found at least 25 police departments outside Wisconsin own a Stingray. More than 30 other agencies refused to say whether they own one.

Tracking cellphones without warrants is just the beginning of the monitoring in Milwaukee. The Fox TV channel in Milwaukee reports that the city is being equipped with surveillance cameras mounted on buildings and in other locations. Why do the nearly 600,000 residents of Wisconsin’s largest city need to be under the watchful eye of government? Common Council President Michael J. Murphy explained:

It is now quite commonplace in business and commercial districts across the U.S. and the world to have mounted surveillance cameras monitoring activity, because they have proven very effective in helping to deter crime and also helping to solve crimes.

However, amid mounting outrage and concerns over what more than two thirds of U.S. voters say is an “out-of-control” federal government that is “threatening basic civil liberties,” the administration is stepping up its showering of military equipment on local law enforcement officials. Even the establishment press is now reporting on the growing controversies — especially after the distribution of some 165, 18-ton armored personnel carriers with gun turrets originally built for U.S. troops on Middle East battlefields. Another 731 have been requested, according to news reports.

Just in New York State, the Associated Press reported that five county sheriff’s departments and three other police agencies have received MRAPs from the Defense Department. “It’s armored. It’s heavy. It’s intimidating. And it’s free,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, one of the officials whose department now has a federally provided MRAP beast of war. Another one of the armored personnel carriers went to the Ohio State University campus police, the AP reported. Dallas County and High Springs, Florida, each received one as well, along with numerous other cities across America.

The heavy military vehicles, costing U.S. taxpayers $500,000 each, were originally purchased by the U.S. Defense Department to help American troops battling heavily armed insurgents in Iraq. Now, they will be used by local police across America for purposes that are not entirely clear or well defined.